The Bible is much more than a book of religion.

Family, Basic Building Block of Society

Rousas John Rushdoony wrote a classic book, Law and Liberty back in 1971. This book deals with the institutions of family and government and their inter-relationship.

God has set up three basic institutions in society. The family, the State and the Church. The family came first in the Garden of Eden, the State or human government, was set up after the Flood and the Church was established at Pentecost after Jesus had ascended back to Heaven.

Historically and Biblically, the family is the basic unit and building block of society. If the family fails to function as God intended, society crumbles.

According to Genesis 9:5-6 and Romans 13:1-4 the purpose of human government is for one reason only; to protect families from enemies, both foreign and domestic. As I understand it, the government Constitutionally has no business being involved in education nor providing for the financial needs of families. The State only got involved in public education in the middle of the nineteenth century and they only got involved in the Socialistic distribution of welfare money and Social Security with the New Deal following the Great Depression.

The Church is a special called out people of God, purchased by the shed blood of Christ, and given to bless the world through her witness.

Consider the family in this article.

THE FAMILY IS GOD’S PLAN FOR THE PROCREATION AND REARING OF CHILDREN.

Adam and Eve were married by God in the Garden of Eden, as recorded in Genesis 2:18-25. In Malachi 2:14-16 we learn that marriage is a sacred covenant in the sight of God, in which a man and a woman are bound together in love and trust for as long as they both live. Marriage is also a picture of the spiritual relationship between Christ and His Church, as taught in Ephesians 5:22-33.

From that marriage union, normally children are born and have a heritage from their families that cannot be duplicated by the State. The Biblical family cannot be rivaled by science nor government as the institution for the procreation and rearing of children.

THE FAMILY IS ALSO THE BASIC LAW-MAKING BODY OF SOCIETY.

Historically, family law has been the basic law of mankind. Proverbs 1:8-9 teaches it. As children we encounter rules of conduct, and our idea of law is shaped and defined largely by our family. Life is seen through the law structure that the family gives to the child.

How the child approaches and reacts to the church, school, state and society in general depends greatly on his source of law which is parental authority. He can face other law making bodies rebelliously, or obediently and respectfully. His attitude can be constructive, destructive or indifferent, depending on his family background to a large degree. Of course, parents can best rule their children, when they themselves are under the Lordship of Christ.

According to Genesis 18:19 God could bless Abraham and his family and make them a blessing to the world because He could trust Abraham to take his parental responsibilities of commanding his children seriously.

The response of children towards authority outside the home is a reflection of their response to authority within the home and is a reflection of our own submission as parents to the Lordship of Christ.

Children who are out of control in public places, such as church, school, in a store, or visiting in the homes of others, are children who are out of control in their own homes. Children who are out of control are a reflection of parents who are out of control. That’s why a father’s ability to govern his family is such a crucial consideration when choosing pastors, elders and deacons, according to I Timothy 3:5.

THE FAMILY IS THE FIRST GOVERNMENT IN THE LIFE OF A CHILD.

The father is the God-ordained head of his household and his government under God is the child’s basic government.

The children are not the only ones governed in the family. The mother is governed in her activities by the needs of her husband and children.

The father is governed by his need to lovingly and sacrificially provide for, protect and give his family the example of leadership they need.

When a father is not self-supporting, he has neither the power nor the authority to govern his family.

Welfare families, with their lack of masculine authority from the days of the Roman Empire to the present, have been notorious for their undisciplined, immoral and delinquent family members. A man who will not provide for his family, will not earn his family’s respect and will lack the character, authority and ability to govern with wisdom and honor. The Christian man who does not provide for his family is worse than an infidel, according to I Timothy 5:8.

In short, government welfare destroys family life and creates more evil than it tries to solve.

THE FAMILY IS THE CHILD’S FIRST AND BASICSCHOOL.

Parents have very extensively educated their children, for better or for worse in the first five years before they ever set foot inside a government or private school. Read and study Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Isaiah 28:9-10 on this.

Has it ever occurred to you that every mother performs the most difficult of all educational tasks which no school performs nor can match? From birth, over the next three to five years, she teaches her child to speak fluently in the native tongue of the family. Though difficult and painstaking, it is accomplished through love and patience. It comes simply and naturally within the family as an expression of parental love. Learning is the child’s response to that parental love.

At every stage of a child’s life, the educational function of the home is the basic influence in the life of the child. Read Proverbs 1:8 and 4:1-13 on this.

If parents are to entrust the education of their children to a school, it is essential that they find a school that best reflects their values and goals. Our Christian school, Victory Christian School, is under the control of Alameda Bible Church. We seek together to live under the control of Christ and His Word. As we teach and reflect those Biblical values, standards and goals, we attract only those families who desire what we have to offer. For education to cease to be parent and church controlled and become state controlled is deadly to the child.

ANOTHER BASIC FUNCTION OF THE FAMILY IS TO PROVIDE MOTIVATION AND GUIDANCE.

A child is provided with the best motivation and guidance in his home because his family loves him and is deeply concerned for his future. That goal is, of course, to be like Jesus. Philippians 1:21, 3:10-14

CONSIDER THE ECONOMIC FUNCTION OF A FAMILY.

A father provides for his family; not for strangers.

Welfare agencies provide for a growing number of dysfunctional families. Under this system, disintegration and demoralization takes place within the family. Education declines and there is less interest in the values of learning and less ability to progress.

Under the family system, children are not only intellectually motivated, but they are also economically financed through high school, college and sometimes grad school.

As far as sheer economic efficiency is concerned, nothing in all of history equals the family. By comparison, state welfare and Socialistic takeover of the family economic functions are pathetic and tragic failures. Socially, the family has no equal in its contribution to social stability and order.

The family as an economic unit has an excellent division of labor plans. Fathers, mothers and children each have their responsibilities. Each has rights and duties which are equally shared. The family can withstand and survive more shock, economic disasters, personal disagreements and social catastrophes than any other institution.

THE FAMILY ALSO HAS A VALUABLE POLICING AND PROTECTIVE FUNCTION.

The members of the family police one another and keep their family in line and out of trouble. They punish and protect one another. Their’s is a cradle to the grave protection.

THE CONTRAST OF FAMILY TO THE STATE

When government talks about cradle to the grave security, they are simply attempting to imitate the family and offering the state as a substitute to the family.

Throughout history the family has done the most satisfactory job. The State botches up every attempt to replace the family. Today our socialistic government continually attempts to limit the authority, power and ability of the family. They do this through:

1. Outrageous taxation, even to taxing the inheritance parents pass on to their children. That is stealing!

2. By scrutinizing how families rear their children and threatening to take children from their parents if discipline or education is not according to their standards.

3. Then the State has the audacity to blame the family for the problems they have created within the family.

CONCLUSION

Has the State weakened the family? Not really. The more the State has interfered and demoralized families, the more it has emphasized man’s need for family. The prevalence of sickness does not make health obsolete. It only emphasizes the importance and need for health. So the incompetence of the State had made more obvious the need for the family to function as a family.

Historically, every period of Statism is followed by a period of intensely family oriented society as men turn from sickness to health. For decades we have been in a struggle between two clear choices in America. The choices are obvious.

1. More and more State control and dependency as we depend on “The Village” to raise our children.

2. Or we must strengthen our families and take back the responsibilities and freedoms the former generation forfeited to the State. We must return to strong Biblically oriented families and quit depending on the State to do for us what we can much better do for ourselves.

I encourage you to read Psalms 127 and 128 and note:

1. The Psalmist is speaking primarily to the husband and father. He refers to his wife and children.

2. Children are given by God to families; not to the State.

3. The wife is seen as a homemaker with all the family sitting around the dinner table together.

4. Security and prosperity come by hard work; not by government welfare.

5. If we live in the fear of God and in obedience to God’s Word, we can expect God’s blessing on our children, our grand children and our great grandchildren. I have seen that in our own family, by God’s grace. All our children, and our grandchildren are successful and living for the Lord. And now our great-grandchildren are beginning to come! May they continue to “seek the Lord while He may be found.” Isaiah 55:6-7

And may you, Dear Reader, know the Lord and His blessing on your family.